Who made your clothes?

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Who made your clothes?

Do you ever think about who made the clothes you're wearing? Lots of people don't think about this when they're buying clothes, but a group of people in the fashion industry have started a #Fashion Revolution. Find out more by watching this video.

Instructions

Do the preparation task first. Then watch the video and do the exercise. Remember you can read the transcript at any time.

Preparation

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Transcript

Transcript:

Lisa and Tida Finch: I think it’s time, isn’t it? Well, long overdue, for a fashion revolution.

Susie Lau: I’m very interested in, you know, kind of provenance of clothing, just caring about, you know, where your clothes are made is important and that's really the message behind fashion revolution.

Katie Jones: It’s become very normal with food to care about where it’s from and what we're eating and I think this should definitely translate to also what you're wearing.

Lisa and Tida Finch: We trust that brands and high-street retailers are making clothes and fashion ethically and they’re not always. There are things going on that shouldn’t be.

Susie Lau: We want to encourage change and maybe vote with our feet a little bit, and sort of say we wanna know where our clothes come from and if you’re not going to fix your supply chains or if you’re not going to ensure that your clothes are made under ethical standards, then, you know, we're not going to buy them.

Abi Chisman: We're here inviting people to come in and experience what ethical fashion really means and try to rebrand that concept as something that is fashionable, fun and easy to get involved with.

Susie Lau: I’m kinda joining in by encouraging people to do the inside-out thing which has been a huge success. I believe it’s already trending on Twitter and then I’m down here at Designer Jumble, kind of doing what I do best which is sort of playing around with clothes and they’ve got such an amazing selection of stuff here.

Hesta King: I think it’s great to have another choice, especially in this environment of everything being new. This is so great to have things that are old and individual.

Zoe Robinson: I just really want people to look after their clothes and think about them and care for them.

Hesta King: I think what you could do is get rid of your old clothes so somebody else could love them and they have a new life and be recycled.

Katie Jones: You can love a jumper or a top or a jacket and you can love it for, like, five, ten years, the rest of your life. It’s not kind of so trend-driven.

Hesta King: Don’t just buy something and see it as disposable but just think about the work that went into it.

Katie Jones: It doesn’t need to be so much kind of really, really, really quick pace which I think leads to the fact there are these awful conditions because the turn around and everything has just got to be pumped out. It’s not about kind of suddenly stop buying anything new, I think it’s about looking at fashion slightly differently.

Lisa and Tida Finch: I hope that people will just shop more consciously and kind of think before they buy something.

Katie Jones: If you see something and do you want that, do you need that in your life? Like are you going to wear it?

Lisa and Tida Finch: Is it worth it? Why is this so cheap? How did our clothes get so cheap? And start to question what’s really going on. People tend to complain that clothes are too expensive and they want it as cheap as they can get it but that comes at a price.

Abi Chisman: The Rana Plaza factory disaster that happened a year ago needs to stay in our memories.

Lisa and Tida Finch: We need to start realising what that price is.

Abi Chisman: The only way to do that really is by harnessing the vocal power of people who are shopping.

Susie Lau: If you're an existing customer of a high-street chain, you should start asking them questions, through Twitter, through Instagram, through Facebook or even in stores.

Abi Chisman: What we are saying is start sending that question to the retailers that they shop from now, ‘Who made my clothes?’

Susie Lau: Saying where is this made? Can you ensure that this was made under good working conditions?

Abi Chisman: Just ask that question, the more they ask the question, the more the retailers will understand that they need to have answers to that question.

Susie Lau: I think the consumer is, erm, is the powerful one here.

Abi Chisman: It’s in their power to do something to change the way that fashion is not only perceived but how fashion polices itself.

Katie Jones: I think a lot of small steps could make a really, really huge change.

Lisa and Tida Finch: I feel like our trust has been exploited and we need a day like today to tell them that we realise what’s going on and that we’re not happy about it.

Susie Lau: Those stores will listen to customers. It’s bad business for them to ignore their consumer.

Lisa and Tida Finch: I think they take for granted that we don’t care, but we do.

Discussion

Do you ever think about who made your clothes? Do you think customers should start to ask more questions about the working conditions of the people who made the clothes they buy?
If you're interested in this topic have a look at the Fashion Revolution website.

For me, it is not very important the provenance of clothes but a brand who coordinates the procedure of sewing and so on because the vast majority of clothes are made in China. It is up to company whether its cares of quality and reputation of their products.
I have no idea about working conditions ...It seems to me each company should provide insurance and another obligatory stuff. Anyway, everyone is free to choose the work place if you are not satisfied with salary or working conditions you should find another job.

When I was younger, I used to wear clothes which my aunts made by hand for my sister and I. She made any kinds of clothes, though sometimes they were not of my choice…
All I remember is that she was very fond of making clothes and enjoying it………ツ

ok so i found that this video is very intresting and i guess i'm very thankful to Asians specilally people of China because most of the clothes that we wear are made in China, i sometimes see on T.V how some kids in a poor and very simple areas of China are doing a lot of hard and tiring work to get money to eat a modeste boal of rice at night.
It may seems funny for some people and so off topic but i just want to say that without China this world will never be the way he is today.

"I think they take for granted that we don’t care, but we do."
That's why I love thrift clothes.
In my country if you come to a shop and ask them about the origins, the materials they will lie to you to convince you buy their products. It's the shopkeeper's job, the more clothes you sell the more money you get. I accept the high prices so the factory could have more money to invest the waste treatment but nothing guarantee they would do. Even the big companies like Apple, their factories in China have very bad work condition.

I never was interested who makes my clothes. I know that none of my T-shirt, jeans or shorts is not manually created, because in today's world all working machines. I do not like it. Sometimes I look at the label on my shirt that I saw a number but not to see where it is made. Who knows if I was born during my grandmother sure I'd be interested, but today no.

Okay, I don't have many clothes so I opened my mom's closet...!
Interestingly, they are made in various countries; the USA, Italy, France, Slovakia, Romania, Turky, Greece, Tunisia, Vietnam, China and Japan.... It's difficult for me to think of working conditions of the people who made these clothes we buy... I only knew the lower the cost, the cheaper, but now I need to think more about behind the scene of the low cost...!
But wow, she has good clothes!!
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